The best fitness watches to track your workouts

Fitness watches have a clear goal; to whip you into shape or just get you to start thinking about being more active. Whether that’s getting you to step a little further each day, sleeping longer to recover or giving you more reason to swap land for water and find other ways to keep moving.

It’s not just serving up wrist companions for runners or cyclists anymore either. These watches want to cater for the niche pursuits in your life and show that you don’t have to turn to traditional exercise to get that heart pumping.

The good news is you have options. Whether you’re a HIIT fiend or you just like the idea of something that can tell you exactly what you should be doing when you step into the gym or pull out the workout mat at home. Great fitness watches are rising to the surface and big names like Apple, Garmin, Polar and Samsung are really stepping up.

You may want to also check out our guides on the best smartwatches, the best running watches and the best fitness trackers.

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What is the best fitness watch to buy in 2021?

The watch we think offers the best all-round experience is the Apple Watch Series 7 (£369). That does come with the caveat that it will only work with iPhones and you do have to be comfortable with charging on a regular basis. In return you’ll get something that through the great app support can cater for most types of workouts, the core tracking sensors perform extremely well and it’s still very enjoyable to close those activity rings. It's the best fitness watch out there.

View the Apple Watch Series 7 for £369 on Amazon

If you don’t have an iPhone, then the Garmin Venu 2 (£301) is an alternative to consider instead. Along with working across platforms, it has Garmn’s core tracking features and some useful home workout modes that make it a good fit for indoor and outdoor exercise. It's the best for sports tracking.